


Potato Waffles

by missnumbat



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Christmas, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-26
Updated: 2013-03-26
Packaged: 2017-12-06 13:41:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/736314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missnumbat/pseuds/missnumbat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leslie and Ben's first Christmas as an engaged couple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Potato Waffles

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to diaphenia and courtknees for their wondering beta-ing.

“Potato waffles?”

“Yes Leslie, potato waffles. They were all I could find at the store,” Ben explained to his outraged fiancée.

Leslie grabbed the packet out of Ben’s hands and stared at it in indignation.

“But even I know that potato and whipped cream don’t go together. Trust me, I’ve tried and it was worse than that time we dipped waffles into chicken soup. What am I meant to do with them if I can’t put whipped cream on them?”

Ben took the waffles back from Leslie and put them in the freezer.

“Leslie, the Irish just don’t do sweet waffles; they like them savoury. I can’t rewrite their culinary history. I know waffles are a Christmas Eve tradition for you, and this is the best I could find.” Ben leaned against the freezer. “I even looked for a waffle iron so I could make homemade waffles, but they don’t seem common over here.”

“So that’s where you were today when you went on your mysterious errand?”

“Yes. I looked in every food and kitchen appliance based shop within a ten mile radius. No waffles. No waffle irons.”

“If the TSA hadn’t confiscated my emergency waffle iron, we wouldn’t be in this mess. A weapon, honestly.”

“You certainly made your views very clear to the TSA officer. I bet that’s the first time someone has lectured him for twenty minutes about how the Constitution can be interpreted to mean that waffles are a fundamental right of every American.” Ben said, smiling at the memory.

Leslie sighed deeply and stepped closer to Ben, wrapping her arms around him and looking up into his face.

“Well we can have waffles with Christmas breakfast rather than as Christmas Eve dinner.”

“Don’t you always have waffles with Christmas breakfast anyway?”

“Well, yes, but not potato waffles.” Leslie rested her head against Ben’s chest. “It was so sweet of you to try so hard to find me waffles. You really didn’t have to. You’ve done so much already to make this a memorable first Christmas as an engaged couple. Staying in an eighteenth century cottage in Ireland is so romantic and such a lovely idea. I’m glad you convinced me to spend Christmas here with just the two of us.”

“The two months it took to convince you to spend the holiday season away from Pawnee were two months well spent.” Ben smiled down at his fiancée and pecked her on the cheek.

Leslie slid one hand up into Ben’s hair and brought Ben’s mouth down to hers, her tongue seeking entrance against his lips while her other hand slid down to his butt.

Ben deepened the kiss, threading his fingers through Leslie’s hair before dropping his hands to her waist. He was just about to hoist her up on the counter when Beyonce’s _Run the World (Girls)_ blared out through the kitchen.

Leslie broke away from the kiss.

“That’s Ann’s ring tone!”

Ben sighed quietly. This was not the first time Ann had interrupted them just when things were getting heated. Still he was glad Leslie had such a close friend to rely on, so the interruptions never caused more than a momentary frustration.

Leslie ducked out of Ben’s embrace and into the living room to pick up her phone, answering it with, “Merry Christmas Ann, you beautiful graceful red deer, how are you?"

Ben slowly followed Leslie into the living room and settled into the couch in front of the roaring fire, watching his fiancée pace up and down in front of their hastily erected Christmas tree.

Ben was glad that Leslie had insisted on bringing ornaments from home to decorate the tree with; it made the cottage feel more homely.

Ben thought about how happy he had been last Christmas putting the tree up with Leslie, but his happiness then was nothing compared to his happiness now, knowing that Leslie had agreed to spend the rest of her life with him. 

While Ben was imagining all of the future Christmases he and Leslie would spend together, he also devoted part of his attention to Leslie’s conversation with Ann, loving how animated and excited his fiancée sounded.

“I miss you too Ann! Oh so glad to - did you get my email?...right?...I know! Did you see the picture I sent you of the Constance Markievicz statue in St Stephen’s Green?...yes...sorry, attaching a five page essay that I wrote on Constance’s life may have been a bit much, but she was just so awesome!...Oh the cottage? It’s amazing. Didn’t I send you a picture?...well, next time I will – Dublin? It’s great, but it’s so nice being on the outskirts because it’s so crowded in the city proper – Oh, Ben is being his wonderful elf king self...yesterday he bought me the memoir of Mary Robinson, the first female President of Ireland...”

The mention of the gift he had bought her the previous day reminded Ben that he had another gift he wanted to give Leslie tonight. He shot a quick smile at Leslie, motioning at her to stay where she was, and got up from the chair. He climbed the stairs to their bedroom, turning around with a bemused look when he heard Leslie call, “I love to watch you walk away.” This was followed by a quieter, “Sorry Ann, but you know how I feel about Ben’s butt and it just looks so good when he’s walking up stairs. Anyway how is the Winter Wonderland Festival going? I listened to the tree lighting ceremony broadcast on internet radio and it sounded like it went well.”

When Ben returned, he found Leslie sitting at the kitchen counter squirting whipped cream straight into her mouth from the can.

“Leslie Barbara Knope!” Ben exclaimed after a moment’s pause during which he had to clear a different, much dirtier, image from his mind.

“Well Ben, there aren’t any waffles but that doesn’t mean I can’t still have some whipped cream,” Leslie insisted. “I have a tradition to uphold.” 

Ben pried the whipped cream can from Leslie’s hand, putting it on the counter out of her reach before holding out a wrapped present.

“It’s a tradition in my family to open one present on Christmas Eve.”

“Yay! Presents! I’ll go and get one of yours. Meet you at the tree.” Leslie was already halfway up the stairs by the time the last sentence was uttered. Ben made his way over to the tree, smiling in anticipation.

Leslie came back down the stairs with a smile on her face and one hand held behind her back.

“Me first, close your eyes,” she commanded.

Ben obediently closed his eyes and held out his hands. He felt a heavy weight settle into his palms and heard Leslie say, “Open your eyes”.

He complied and was met with a beaming Leslie and an object wrapped in the most lurid green wrapping paper featuring a familiar looking miniature horse wearing a Santa hat.

“Is this Li’l Sebastian wrapping paper?”

“Of course. I know how much you love Li’l Sebastian. I had it specially designed for you.” Leslie said excitedly.

For the hundredth time Ben wondered what the deal was with that miniature horse. He was also touched that Leslie had put so much effort into the wrapping paper for his gift.

Ben began unwrapping his present slowly and carefully, taking care not to rip the paper.

“Just rip it already,” Leslie demanded, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement.

Ben leaned forward and gave Leslie a quick peck on the lips before continuing his methodical unwrapping.

The wrapping paper parted to reveal a large scale-covered carved black stone replica of one of the Khaleesi’s dragon eggs.

“It’s a paperweight,” Leslie said, positively glowing with excitement “for you to use at your new office, wherever that will be. I know that the dragon egg scene is one of your favourite Game of Thrones moments and I also thought it would help remind you how much your Khaleesi loves you.”

Ben lunged forward and pressed his lips against Leslie’s, using his free hand to pull her body flush against his. As his tongue flicked inside her mouth, he noticed that she tasted like whipped cream.

Ben removed his lips from Leslie’s and pressed them against her neck, whispering, “I love it,” against her skin.

Leslie bought her lips against Ben’s ear and whispered, “Shekh ma shieraki anni”.

Ben’s response was immediate. He pulled Leslie even closer against him and placed his lips against hers, kissing her passionately. He pulled away briefly to gasp, “Bedroom, now,” before grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the stairs.

“What about my present?” Leslie protested.

“I’ll give you a present,” Ben growled in response, continuing to tug Leslie up the stairs. Her other present could wait until morning.

Leslie beamed at him in response and allowed Ben to lead her to the large, soft bed that awaited them.

And it turned out potato waffles weren’t so bad when eaten naked in bed on Christmas morning


End file.
